Extending WiFi across yard to another home


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Old 01-17-21, 10:18 AM
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Extending WiFi across yard to another home

My BF’a mom lives in a separate small house on his property. It’s about 60 feet away. He has always placed his router in the back bedroom to allow her better access to his WiFi. The last few months his service got so bad he switched to a different provider (from DSL to cable). We were have constant issues with speeds and connections and finally realized that the router was in a bad spot. We’ve moved it and now have much better speeds, but that has just made hers worse. We’d like to run a CMx cat5 Ethernet cable across the yard to her house ( buried of course). What device do we put on the other end of that cable to allow her WiFi access from that point?
 
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Old 01-17-21, 10:31 AM
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Does this help?
A single run of Ethernet cable is designed to work at a maximum distance of 100 meters, or 328 feet. A length longer than this can result in issues such as dropped packets, reduced performance and loss of signal, particularly when using Cat5 cable due to being limited to 100 Mbps.
 
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Old 01-17-21, 11:07 AM
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What device do we put on the other end of that cable to allow her WiFi access from that point?
Google "ethernet wifi extender"

At 60 feet you may be able to use a wireless extender located either at your house or at hers. I have a Netgear plug-in extender at my vacation house and just barely get a usable signal from my daughter's house 100 feet away through the woods. I considered a wired solution but since one purpose of my vacation home is to get away from technology I have resisted so far.
 
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Old 01-17-21, 12:29 PM
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I agree with 2john02458. Many wireless extenders have an ethernet jack on them that allows the unit to be used as a WiFi hotspot, in addition to its primary usage as a wireless extender. I doubt that you'll have satisfactory results using the device as a wireless extender, however if you're willing to run an ethernet cable between the two buildings, you can use the extender to create a wireless access point with good speed. I'm sure you're aware of this, but you should purchase special ethernet cable that is "weatherproof" and meant for outdoor usage.
 
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Old 01-17-21, 12:46 PM
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The simplest solution would be to run an ethernet cable from the main router over to the window, then get a $5 router from a thrift shop and set that up as an 'access point' facing the small building.

Are both buildings served by the same electric meter, or is there a separate meter for the guesthouse? I ask because you might have an issue with grounding & cross talk if you run cable between two different panels.

If both buildings are on the same meter, you could use "exterior grade" ethernet cable and string it above the ground like a clothes line. You might be able to could ALSO use a "powerline adapter" to supply internet from the main building over the existing copper wiring to the smaller building.

The term you're looking for is "access point" it means the router takes IN a network signal from ethernet and broadcasts it out as WiFi. The opposite is a "wireless bridge" which takes IN a WiFi signal and sends that out over ethernet. Essentially all routers can be reprogramed to act as an access point, a smaller number can be reprogrammed as a wireless bridge. Check around at the local thrift shops for old routers, they're usually under $10. The Westell 327, and Verizon Mi424WR, and most Linksys routers can be configured into an access point.

When you setup a 2nd WiFi source, you want to assign the same network name, "SSID" and password, but set the routers to different frequencies so they don't overlap. There are generally lots of tutorials on the web about how to set up a router as an access point.
 
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Old 01-17-21, 02:44 PM
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I have both a comfast ac1200 ap wifi extender and a wavlink ac600 wifi extender to get the signal outside my stucco. Both work pretty well. 😍
 
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Old 01-18-21, 08:28 PM
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"The simplest solution would be to run an ethernet cable from the main router over to the window, then get a $5 router from a thrift shop and set that up as an 'access point' facing the small building."

I already stated in my OP that we plan to run CMX ethernet cable from his house to the other. I actually have ordered a TP-Link AC750 - which according to the info online, can be set up as an access point. We plan to try that.



"Are both buildings served by the same electric meter, or is there a separate meter for the guesthouse? I ask because you might have an issue with grounding & cross talk if you run cable between two different panels."

I think each has its own meter - not positive but I think that is the case. CMX cable is used to connect two or more distinct structures.
 
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Old 01-18-21, 09:32 PM
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I think each has its own meter - not positive but I think that is the case. CMX cable is used to connect two or more distinct structures.
My concern is: if the CMX cables have Cat6 style grounding and you have 2 different main breakers with 2 different grounding rods, you can have problems with ground loops, 60 cycle humming, getting a shock, or shorting things out, especially the first time you have a nearby lightning strike.
Cautionary example- we had a mortgage broker who rented space in our office building, had his laptop plugged in on the desk, just across the room was the printer & paper shredder. One day the paper shredder jammed on a paperclip, the shredder drew a huge amount of current and dropped the voltage at the shredder/printer outlet.
Turned out, the outlets were connected to different circuits. So when the voltage dropped, the printer cable was connected between 2 different voltages- that ended up melting the printer cable and frying the laptop.
 
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Old 02-26-21, 08:01 AM
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Electrical issues are a concern, but I think overblown. You should have any electronic devices you care about plugged into a surge protector. If you are going to run an Ethernet cable, you should consider an ethernet surge suppressor - Ubiquiti ETH-SP is about $12.

If you absolutely insist on running a cable over there and need WiFi, you'll need an ethernet-to-wifi bridge or Access Point. Most modern routers can be reprogrammed to do this. You could also get one of Ubiquiti radios/Access Points but these need a separate DHCP server - this is usually handled by your regular router.

Personally, if you say that a router worked previously, I would not bother running the cable or with any 'big store' routers which WILL die on you too soon (I've had too many just quit working after only 3 years). I would get something like UniFi AP 6-lite (sounds like they don't come with a PoE injector anymore, so tack on an extra $8 for this one) and point it out the bedroom window. You could even get one that can be mounted outside. You won't get the full maximum advertised rate but no one will ever notice.
I have an older UniFi AP in the basement of my house and absolutely no issues with the signal reaching up to even the 2nd floor. At the furthest point in the yard the connection gets spotty and that's about 50ft from the house, and remember, the AP is in the basement! Worst place ever for it! I also used similar Ubiquity AP as direct line-of-sight relays and was getting 300Mbps duplex (send/receive) across 100ft or so. There are other brands out there too, but I just like Ubiquiti for their hardware and interfaces.
 
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Old 02-26-21, 08:05 AM
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To update this, looks like he is going to just get her set up with her own service. That way she can't complain to him with the constant "your internet isn't working again can you fix it". LOL.
 
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Old 02-26-21, 09:28 AM
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I would just plug her computer into the ethernet cable. Skip the wifi.
 
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Old 02-26-21, 09:31 AM
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Well his router for some reason "goes to sleep" every so often - no idea why - he turns it off and back on and it is fine. Personally I would buy a new router. Anyway, he doesn't want to deal with her complaining about it anymore.
 
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Old 02-26-21, 03:24 PM
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The most economical way to do is to run CAT5 over and buy a cheap router as an AP (per Hal_S). The easiest way is to buy a Mesh WiFi System. I use an older version of the Orbi (RBK23). It comes with 3 units. I use it to cover 4 stories of space. These units daisy-chained to each other. I'm more than happy for its performance. Just place one unit in the back of the first house and another in the second building. I think it will work. Buy one from Costco. You can easily return it if it doesn't work.
 
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Old 02-26-21, 04:19 PM
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Quick tip - run an aerial ethernet line from bathroom vent to bathroom vent.
To get internet from my farmhouse out to my barn/office, I got 150' of outdoor grade ethernet cable, ran it along the vertical vinyl siding joint and up to a bathroom vent stack, wrapped a screen door spring around the top of the vent stack and used an old conical phone line 'strain relief' connector; ran the cable about 100' to the other building at a large hook and spring and another 'strain relief' connector. Drilled a ½" hole in the loft floor, so the ethernet cable has a drip loop and enters the building through the ceiling of a porch, hole is sealed by padding and carpet.
 
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Old 02-28-21, 04:10 PM
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It takes 3000 volts to make static electricity jump a 1mm air gap, and a 'weak' stroke of lightning is about 50 megavolts. A "surge suppressor" is called that because it's there to limit the damage if the power company messes up. If a spark with 50 million volts behind it has designs on your router, it's not going to let a little thing like a surge suppressor stand in its way. Your money is better spent on PVC tubing to run the ethernet cable through before you bury it. The insulation changes the path of least resistance and might actually prevent the lightning running in on you (provided it doesn't melt the PVC).
 
 

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